Pedophile priest fights extradition order to Ireland

A federal magistrate in San Francisco has ordered that Roman Catholic priest, Patrick McCabe, be extradited to Ireland to face charges of sexual assault. It is claimed that he assaulted six boys in Ireland between 1973 and 1981.

McCabe's attorney, Robert Beles, plans to appeal to U.S. Magistrate Judge Nandor Vadas' extradition ruling. Although there is a statute of limitations on the prosecution of alleged sexual assaults in the U.S. there is none in Ireland.

Beles said: "There's no logic or decency for sending a man to a country for something this country cannot punish him for…We wouldn't send a person to Saudi Arabia if they were going to get stoned."

The details of McCabe's career within the church were published in "The Murphy Report" an investigation into clerical abuse, carried out by the Irish State. However, McCabe now denies all charges of sexual abuse.

Allegations of abuse in Ireland, from the six victims, began to emerge in 1987. Charges were not pursued as McCabe's whereabouts were unknown.

In 2007 the Irish police arrested him at his Alameda condominium. He was interviewed for three days at the Alameda Police Station. While being interviewed he admitted to having a fetish for formal shirts and ties worn by young boys. He said "I got satisfaction from an embrace and being close to a boy."

The 2009 "Murphy Report" documents how the Catholic Church moved McCabe to the United States once they became aware of the complaints against him in Ireland. Initially he was sent to New Mexico where he was involved in a program for sexual abusers. He was given drug therapies such as Depo-Provera. It was during this time that he was officially diagnosed as a pedophile.

In 1982 he was placed in a congregation in California. In 1985 Bishop Mark Hurley of the Santa Rosa diocese removed him from his position for "inappropriate conduct". McCabe continued to work and study in California until 1987 when the Archdiocese of Dublin informed the Sacramento Diocese that McCabe "had been accused of sexually abusing young boys". Soon after, he was forced to resign his position in the church.

The Murphy report stated "The bishops (in Ireland) decided to let him go to the USA…They, in effect, set him loose on the unsuspecting population of Stockton, California. There is no record that they notified the bishop of Stockton of his arrival."

So far, at least three former parishioners from Northern California have sued the Santa Rosa Diocese. They claim that they were molested by McCabe.